Post Malone Smashes Record Held By Michael Jackson For 34 Years

Post Malone Smashes Record Held By Michael Jackson For 34 Years

Though Post Malone might be more recognised by his distinctive facial tattoos and blossoming friendship with Justin Bieber, it can’t be denied that his music has some serious staying power too.

Since its release in 2016, Post Malone’s debut album, Stoney, has spent 77 weeks in the Billboard top ten R&B/Hip-Hop albums chart, currently sitting at number nine.

The huge number of weeks means that Stoney has just overtaken Michael Jackson’s Thriller for the longest stay in Billboard‘s top 10 since the chart began.

Jackson’s iconic album was released in 1982 and spent 76 weeks in the top ten, 12 more weeks than Whitney Houston’s Whitney Houston, which now sits at third place with 64 weeks.

The new record proves Posty’s longevity and an ever-growing fanbase. His debut album was not an initial hit, and took an epic 51 weeks to reach number one on the chart – itself a Billboard record.

There have been, of course, many significant changes to the chart and how rankings are calculated since the time of Thriller.

In February 2017, after Stoney had been in the charts for seven weeks, the list went from a strictly sales-based formula to one which calculates chart positions based on ‘multi-metric’ consumption. In other words, rather than one traditional album sale, the chart now looks at track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.

This means that repeated streams of songs, rather than purchasing the whole album, have contributed to the Stoney‘s ranking each week, whereas, when Thriller was released in the pre-streaming era, fans are more likely to have bought the album only once – as opposed to listeners nowadays streaming a song or album multiple times, as Billboard reports.

Though Stoney may have knocked Thriller off the top spot for most number of weeks, Jackson’s iconic album is still sitting safely on top of another record.

The 1982 album still holds the record for most weeks at number one, with 37. Stoney, on the other hand, spent three weeks at the top spot.

Post Malone followed 2016’s Stoney with 2018’s Beerbongs & Bentleys, which debuted at number one earlier this year and spent its first five weeks at the top spot. His second album currently sits at number two on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart, behind Drake’s Scorpion.

In May this year, Post Malone (real name Austin Richard Post) also smashed another record that was held by none other than The Beatles.

Having held the record for the most songs in the Top 20, with six, for 54 years, Posty went way beyond that and landed nine in the chart.

The Texas-based singer has become a household name following hits such as ‘White Iverson’, ‘Rockstar’ and ‘Congratulations’.